Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what recent steps he has taken to support growth for SMEs in levels of (a) production, (b) profit and (c) employment.

Our Help to Grow schemes will help UK small businesses boost productivity and profits. Help to Grow Digital provides financial discounts of up to 50% on approved digital technologies up to £5000 and Help to Grow Management will boost leadership and management skills.

Businesses can get the finance they need through Start-Up loans, and the recent extension to the Recovery Loan Scheme, will help businesses to access loans of up to £2million so businesses can grow and invest.

As a result of government action, there are now more employees on payroll than ever, and we will continue to build a high skilled, high productivity, high wage economy.